IPC class H01R 13/53 relates to base plates or cases made for high electrical requirements. IPC class H01R 13/533 relates to base plates or cases made for use in extreme conditions, e.g. high temperature, radiation, vibration, corrosive environment, pressure.
For the manufacture of electrical and/or electronic connections between different components, conductors or the like, plug connections are known in the art, said connections comprising a plug element and a socket element. For example, there are normal sockets into which plugs can be inserted, which are fitted to the end of lines. Connection arrangements of this kind are also suitable and intended for connections that are made and broken very frequently.
In the case of relays, cut-outs or the like, it is likewise known to attach a base to a unit, into which the cut-out or relay can be inserted. Here, too, replacement should be possible, although replacements are less common in this case than with the connection processes between socket and plug.
Even where connection processes between circuit boards and plug elements are involved, it is customary for a base or plug socket to be disposed on the circuit board or even at another point and for the socket then to be connected to the circuit board with the help of conductors.
EP 1 069 651 A1 discloses a metal terminal, which is inserted into a contact hole in an electrical circuit substrate and makes an electrical contact at the contact hole. The terminal has a stop member, which abuts the substrate at the rear end of the contact hole, thereby preventing further insertion of the terminal into the contact hole. A removal prevention portion abuts the substrate at the front end of the contact hole to resist an accidental withdrawal of the terminal. The removal prevention portion is resiliently deformable to allow it to pass through the contact hole during insertion of the terminal. Contact elements between the stop member and the removal prevention portion make electrical contact in the contact hole.
However, investigations into the kind of such a metal terminal described have revealed that the removal prevention portion, descriptively formed as a ring, is readily prone to plastic deformation when inserted through the contact hole and is therefore frequently destroyed. In other words, the passage of this wide removal prevention portion through a narrow contact hole and the requirement for a sufficiently high holding force to be generated by the removal prevention portion represent an insurmountable technical contradiction with the system described in EP 1 069 651 A1.
Moreover, the terminal disclosed in EP 1 069 651 A1 is hard for a user to handle. Passing the removal prevention portion through the contact hole requires the application of a very large manual force if an adequately high holding force is then to be achieved in the introduced state, something that quickly overburdens a human operator, particularly when several contacts are to be made at the same time. In addition, the mechanical load acting on the board in accordance with EP 1 069 651 A1 is great. Also, simple insertion along the lines of a socket-plug approach is not possible with a system of this kind, as high holding forces lead to plastic deformation of the removal prevention portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,755,453 discloses an electrical connector that can be passed through a hole in an electronic terminal. Sections at the end of the connector and at the opposite side of the connector may be curved, in order to achieve a mechanical fixing in the electrical terminal.